OPERATIONAL SUPPORT FUNCTIONAmateur Radio Communications

Section OneToronto Emergency Communications (EmComm) Group

PurposeThe Toronto Emergency Communications (EmComm) Group primary role is to supply amateur radio operator staffing for the Toronto EOC Amateur Radio Station (VA3EOT) fully trained in emergency radio communications protocols and EOC operational procedures.

Concept of Operation

Roles and Responsibilities:

1 - Work under the direction and supervision of the City of Toronto Office of Emergency Management. 

2 - Participate in regular exercises sponsored by the City of Toronto Office of Emergency Management.

3 - Develop and maintain a training program to; · Recruit and train interested volunteers from the public and private sectors to become federally licensed amateur radio operators in support of the Toronto EmComm Group goals. · Train radio operators in emergency communications methods and emergency operations centre procedures.  · Design regular simulated emergency exercises to prepare the Toronto EmComm Group in a state of readiness for an actual emergency or disaster response.

4 – Maintain and test, on a weekly basis, radio equipment and antenna systems installed at the City of Toronto Emergency Operations Centre. 5 – Develop and maintain a VHF/UHF linked communications network which can provide coverage for all of Ontario by working with local repeater owners and groups. 6 – Establish and maintain HF communications links with the Ontario Amateur Radio Emergency Service and the National Traffic System. 7 – Provide support to local level community EmComm / ARES groups throughout the province of Ontario.  8 – Develop and maintain a website presence providing information to the general public, interested groups and individuals on our goals and operational practices in the interest of public safety and community service. 

Activation Procedures

The Toronto EmComm Group operates under the direction of The City of Toronto Office of Emergency Management; activation is at the request of the Toronto Emergency Operations Centre. Toronto EmComm Group members would be notified of activation via;

- phone callup tree- ARES local area networks.

Communications Technology

The Toronto EOC Amateur Radio Station is equipped to communicate directly with the Provincial EOC located in downtown Toronto and with other Emergency Operations Centre’s and ARES Groups throughout the Province.

The Toronto EOC station is equipped with; 2- HF long range communications transceivers (voice communications)1- HF long range communications transceiver (digital communications)2 – VHF/UHF transceivers (D-Star IRLP Linked Repeater Network)1 – VHF/UHF station (direct link to PEOC)1- 6 meter transceiver (medium rang voice communications)1 – 200 MHz. transceiver (local EOC to EOC voice communications)

Section Two

Toronto Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES)

The Toronto ARES is a member group of Radio Amateurs of Canada (Field Services Division). Toronto ARES has been delegated the task of providing supplemental support communications into the Toronto EOC during a major emergency event. This is accomplished through a series of home and mobile stations which can provide amateur radio coverage from all areas of the city.

Toronto ARES can also provide communications support for social services agencies such as Red Cross. Another support function of Toronto ARES is to provide communications for public service events.

Communications Networks

Province-wide

The Toronto EmComm Group oversees the operation of a long range linked repeater network that covers most of South-Central Ontario. The present coverage range is from; Cobourg in the east to Windsor in the west and Niagara Region in the south to North Bay/Sudbury in the north. The network also incorporates IRLP (VOIP technology) providing additional coverage support to eastern and northern Ontario.The Toronto EmComm Group also works directly with Ontario ARES and the National Traffic System providing long range HF point to point communications networks.

Local AREA Networks

Local GTA communications networks operate under the direction of the Toronto ARES Group, Toronto EmComm and Toronto ARES work together to supply local communications networks

Toronto Emergency Operations Centre Amateur Radio Station VA3EOT

HF Long-range Point-to-Point

VHF/UHFD-Star – IRLP Province-wide

Digital Voice & Data

Toronto Police Metro-Net System

Toronto Fire Joint Emergency Service (JES) System

Toronto Police Metro-Net

The Toronto Metro-Net Communications System was designed by Toronto Police for use by Emergency services and agencies that support the City of Toronto and would be used when telephone system fail. The system incorporates one centrally located VHF repeater which provides city-wide coverage using digital voice technology.

Toronto Fire Joint Emergency Service Radio Network

Toronto Fire JES Network provides common radio frequencies for Police, Fire, EMS and Toronto EOC

Toronto OEM Sat Phones

Toronto EOC Police – Fire – EMS – TTC Radio Room

Fire EMS

Police TTC

Training Programs

Amateur Radio Certification

A series of Power Point Presentations (8 modules, 386 slides) has been prepared by the Toronto Emergency Communications (EmComm) Group as an aide to train interested volunteers in becoming Amateur Radio Operators.

This course is offered free of charge to all Radio Clubs, ARES Groups, and individuals in the interest of public safety and community service. 

The Toronto Emergency Communications Group's mission is to develop and maintain the leadership and organizational structure necessary to provide auxiliary volunteer radio communications support to Emergency Management Ontario and the City of Toronto Office of Emergency Management when additional or specialized communications are required by the Emergency Operations Centre to support public safety or humanitarian

An Amateur Radio Certification Course is conducted every year to maintain a pool of radio operators for the PEOC and Toronto EOC.

These courses are conducted at either the PEOC, Toronto EOC or Fort York Armories and runs for 12 consecutive weeks once a week for 3 hours.

709 Communications Regiment

Toronto Emergency Operations Centre

Course material can be found online: www.emergencyradio.ca

Exercises

Toronto EmComm plans at least two large scale exercises each year.

Field Day (4th full weekend in June)Field Day is an annual amateur radio exercise, widely sponsored by IARU regions and member organizations, encouraging emergency communications preparedness among amateur radio operators. In the United States and Canada, it is typically the largest single emergency preparedness exercise in North America, with over 50,000 operators participating each year.

Simulated Emergency TestSimulated Emergency Test is a nationwide exercise in emergency communications, administered by ARRL and RAC Field Organization Leaders including Emergency Coordinators, District Emergency Coordinators, Section Emergency Coordinators and Net Managers. Many other Section Leaders like the Section Manager and the Section Traffic Manager may have a hand in planning the exercises and/or reviewing the results. Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES), National Traffic System (NTS), Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES) and other public-service oriented groups can be involved. The SET weekend gives communicators the opportunity to focus on the emergency-communications capability within your community while interacting with NTS nets. Although the main SET weekend this year is October 4 -5, local and section-wide exercises may be held throughout the fall season.

Field Operations Deployment

Situation Field Day is an annual amateur radio exercise run by the National Association for Amateur Radio encouraging emergency communications preparedness among operators in Canada and the United States.  The intent is to practice the rapid deployment of radio communications equipment in environments ranging from operations under tents in remote areas to inside Emergency Operations Centres.

Province-wide Simulated Emergency Test (SET)

Staffed by Toronto EmComm&

709 Communications RegimentPersonnel